Tarzan was one of my childhood heroes, as I imagine he was for many of you. So it's no surprise that when I saw a new comic book about him, I picked it up.

Admittedly, after a hundred years, there are a lot of problematic aspects of the original novel, not even counting the implausibility of a human child raised by apes. So any new adaptation has to be adjusted to at least somewhat deal with current attitudes and knowledge. We'll see how Dynamite does with that.

We open in the Belgian Congo, February 1909. There's a skeleton on the floor wearing a ring, and another skeleton in a crib. At the desk is someone reading a child's ABC book.

The mutineers promise to let the British know where they dumped the Greystokes as soon as it's safe, and take off.

John Greystoke is a practical man, and wastes no time building shelter and settling in for the long haul with his pregnant wife. In a couple of months, Alice gives birth to a boy.

A year later, some new two-legged visitors visit this part of the jungle. They're not too happy to see a hut that looks similar to those made by "ash-skins."

...and the next page would make this post NSFW for gore.

At this point, you might be wondering if Dynamite is going all Philip Jose Farmer on us, but no, these aren't the apes that will be adopting our hero.

Alice dies of a fever.

The next day, Kerchak, current king of the local apes, goes on a rampage and kills the infant of the she-ape Kala. He then proceeds to the Greystoke cabin and kills John. Kala decides to trade her dead baby for the live one that now has no parent.

To be continued in "Lord of the Jungle" #2, "The Forest God"!

My guess is that the mysterious not-apes, not-men will be showing up later to change the plotline from the original somewhat.

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Actually, why is it that Tarzan rarely is shown with a huge beard? I remember in the Christopher Lambert movie he's shown to shave by a friendly Belgian (who teaches Tarzan English, which explains the actor's accent a whole lot better than Highlander could be bothered to), but even there he's barely stubbley.

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PJF explained it by stating that Tarzan, for all his superhuman qualities, didn't hit puberty until 18.I just figured that, if he could teach himself to read from his father's books, he could teach himself to shave by seeing pictures of shaved men in the books.